Story so far: On Monday (January 20, 2025), shortly after taking office as the 47th President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump signed an order that gave TikTok a 75-day lifeline. The short-video sharing platform went offline for U.S.-based users just a day earlier following a protracted legal and political battle that ended in a federal ban. TikTok contested the ban and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The apex court heard the case and upheld the ban, making both Google and Apple remove the app from their app stores. Web-hosting platforms were also ordered to cut ties with the platform or face fines as much as $5,000 per user that can access the app after the ban.

Based on what law was TikTok banned?

The controversial law, ‘Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,’ signed by former President Joe Biden in April, was aimed at blocking apps that are controlled by the U.S.’s foreign adversaries, like China, from operating in the country. It specifically targeted TikTok, which is owned and controlled by ByteDance, a Chinese firm. The goal of the Act is to prevent potential threats to U.S. national security from apps that may be used for espionage, data collection, and other harmful activities.

How does the law apply and what are the exceptions?

Under the law, some apps controlled by foreign adversaries can be prohibited from being distributed, maintained, or hosted in the U.S. However, it does allow an exception for apps that undergo a “qualified divestiture,” meaning they can be sold or restructured in a way that reduces foreign control. The bill also excludes apps that are mainly used for posting product reviews, business reviews, or travel information, so these types of applications are not affected by the law.

To enforce the ban, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has been given the authority to investigate and impose penalties on any entity that violates the law. The penalties are determined based on how many users the app has. TikTok has over 170 million U.S.-based users. If the app is banned, users are entitled to request and receive all their account data—like posts, photos, and videos—before the prohibition is enforced, ensuring they don’t lose access to their content.

Any challenge to specific actions or decisions under the law must be made within 90 days of the decision. And legal disputes related to the law will have to be handled exclusively by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

What does Mr. Trump’s executive order say?

Mr. Trump has noted that the timing of this enforcement is problematic as it doesn’t give his administration enough time to adequately assess the national security risks posed by TikTok or to negotiate a solution to address those risks without immediately shutting down the platform. And so, he has directed the Attorney General not to enforce the Act’s provisions for 75 days from the date of the ban order.

During this period, the DoJ is prohibited from imposing penalties on platforms distributing or maintaining the app. This will allow the administration to properly assess national security concerns and find a balanced solution without rushing into a drastic shutdown.

Can the President override a ban upheld by the Supreme Court?

While a section of legal experts may recognise the broad authority granted to the President under the Constitution of the U.S. in matters of national security and foreign relations, others will raise concerns that Mr. Trump’s order could undermine the Congress’s authority to legislate.

If the U.S. Congress passed this Act, there is an argument that Mr. Trump’s order to delay enforcement could interfere with Congress’s intent, especially if the delay becomes indefinite or is used to bypass the law entirely. While the order on overrunning the ban on TikTok has a time limit of 75 days, it’s unclear whether there is a possibility of entirely bypassing the law.

Another way to look at the order is through the lens of political expediency given the widespread popularity of TikTok among Americans, especially younger demographics. Mr. Trump may be attempting to balance national security with public relations and economic interests. In this context, the order is just a temporary measure to avoid an immediate shutdown and give the new administration time to negotiate a solution with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, or potentially implement mitigation measures.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court may play a key role in determining whether Mr. Trump’s order is consistent with constitutional principles, especially if this matter is challenged in court. If the case reaches the apex court, it could result in a landmark ruling on the separation of powers and executive authority in national security matters.

What is Mr. Trump’s view on TikTok?

Mr. Trump, during his previous term as U.S. President, issued a directive, ordering TikTok to be sold to an American entity as the platform threatened national security, foreign policy, and the economy.

In August 2020, Mr. Trump said that TikTok “captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”

That order was blocked twice (after an appeal) by U.S. federal judges after a group of TikTok influencers challenged the ban. The second judge, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, found that the President overstepped his authority in using his emergency economic powers.

Subsequently, President Joe Biden revoked Mr. Trump’s ban after taking office in January 2021.

In a peculiar manner, TikTok appears to be perpetually oscillating between a ban and a no-ban, akin to a pendulum trapped within the intricate mechanism of a grandfather’s clock, perpetually swinging back and forth (tick-tock).

Washington:

TikTok faces an imminent shutdown in the United States after Congress passed a law last year forcing its Chinses owner ByteDance to either sell the platform or close it by this Sunday.

The US Supreme Court is expected to rule this week on TikTok’s challenge to the law.

Following a hearing last Friday, expectations are high that the law will stand.

Here is a review of what could happen next for TikTok in the United States.

– App store ban –

Under a ban, the US government would first direct Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, preventing new downloads as early as Sunday, a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

However, the app would remain on the phones of the existing 170 million US users unless TikTok directly blocks their access.

Although TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco stated the site would “go dark” on Sunday if the justices failed to block the ban, many observers doubt ByteDance would unilaterally hit the off switch for American users.

– Workarounds –

Even if TikTok keeps its app accessible, US users would stop receiving security and software updates, leading to gradual deterioration in quality and increased vulnerabilities.

As a workaround, users might turn to VPNs (virtual private networks) to mask their location by routing through countries where TikTok remains available.

Another possibility is that TikTok could update from non-US servers through partnerships with foreign, non-Chinese companies — though this would constitute direct defiance of US authorities and likely intensify scrutiny of ByteDance’s US operations.

– Defiance? –

Once Trump takes office, the law’s implementation will fall to his attorney general, who could choose not to enforce it, or stall, defying Congress’s overwhelming support for the legislation.

The Trump administration might also approach the Republican majority in Congress to modify the law, potentially giving ByteDance more time to find a buyer or devise alternative solutions.

– Alternatives –

Once banned, the assumption is that TikTok users will move to other apps, like Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts, TikTok copycats that have grown and will directly benefit from their rival’s demise.

Elon Musk’s X could also benefit and the tycoon has made it known that he wants his platform, formerly Twitter, to more closely resemble TikTok, with video content and shopping features.

Trump has expressed concern that a ban would primarily advantage Meta-owned Instagram, which may explain Mark Zuckerberg’s recent public support for Trump.

Some American content creators have already migrated to Xiaohongshu (Red Note), another Chinese social media app that recently topped the Apple App Store downloads.

– Investor rescue? –

Several potential buyers have emerged, including a group led by Frank McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, even if ByteDance has ruled out a sale for now.

His partner in the bid, Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, recently golfed with Trump and reported the president-elect’s desire to use the TikTok saga as leverage in US-China relations.

A report that the Chinese authorities would be open to a buyout by Musk was denied by TikTok.

Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick also remains interested in buying TikTok, according to the Information.

For now, TikTok’s fate rests with the Supreme Court, with the company lawyers asking the nine justices for a delay to any ban to provide “breathing space” for a solution.

“Nobody knows what they can do and who’s going to do it until they hear from the Supreme Court,” Trump told Newsmax on Monday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Eight TikTok content creators sued the U.S. Government on May 14, issuing another challenge to the new federal law that would ban the popular social media platform nationwide if its China-based parent company doesn’t sell its stakes within a year.

Attorneys for the creators argued in the lawsuit that the law violates users’ First Amendment rights to free speech, echoing legal arguments made by TikTok in a separate lawsuit filed by the company last week. The legal challenge could end up before the Supreme Court.

The complaint filed on May 14 comes from a diverse set of content creators, including a Texas-based rancher who has previously appeared in a TikTok commercial, a creator in Arizona who uses TikTok to show his daily life and spread awareness about LGBTQ issues as well as a business owner who sells skincare products on TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the platform.

The lawsuit said the creators “rely on TikTok to express themselves, learn, advocate for causes, h.are opinions, create communities, and even make a living”.

“They have found their voices, amassed significant audiences, made new friends, and encountered new and different ways of thinking — all because of TikTok’s novel way of hosting, curating, and disseminating speech,” it added, arguing the new law would deprive them and the rest of the country “of this distinctive means of expression and communication”.

A spokesperson for TikTok said the company was covering the legal costs for the lawsuit, which was filed in a Washington appeals court. It is being led by the same law firm that represented creators who challenged Montana’s state-wide ban on the platform last year. In November, a judge blocked that law from going into effect.

The federal law comes at a time of intense strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China on a host of issues and as the two have continued to butt heads over sensitive geopolitical topics like China’s support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. lawmakers and other administration officials have aired concerns about how well TikTok can protect users’ data from Chinese authorities and have argued its algorithm could be used to spread pro-China propaganda, which TikTok disputes.

Under the law, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance would be required to sell the platform to an approved buyer within nine months. If a sale is in progress, the company will get a three-month extension to complete the deal.

However, TikTok and ByteDance said in their lawsuit last week that they would still have no choice but to shut down by next Jan. 19 because continuing to operate in the U.S. wouldn’t be commercially, technologically or legally possible.

They asserted it would be impossible for ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok platform as a separate entity from the rest of TikTok, which has 1 billion users worldwide — most of them outside of the United States. A U.S.-only TikTok would operate as an island that’s detached from the rest of the world, the lawsuit argues. It also said the Chinese government — which would need to approve such a sale — has “made clear” it would not permit a sale of the recommendation algorithm that populates users’ feeds and has been the “key to the success of TikTok in the United States”.

In an interview, Brian Firebaugh, the Hubbard, Texas-based rancher who is part of the creator lawsuit, said he started his TikTok account in 2020 to help establish his brand and market the cattle-related products that he sells online. That decision allowed him to quit his full-time job and live off the income he was making from TikTok, where he currently has more than 4,30,000 followers.

Firebaugh, 44, said TikTok has also helped him build an online community with other ranchers and gave him the opportunity to participate in a Netflix reality show where his winnings allowed him and his wife to afford the adoption process for their son. Losing TikTok, he said, would disrupt everything.

“One hundred percent of our customers come from TikTok,” Mr. Firebaugh said. “For that to go away, you’re now stealing money out of my family’s mouths.”

Chloe Joy Sexton, a 29-year-old content creator who lives in Memphis, Tennessee, and runs a cookie business called Chloe’s Giant Cookies, said she started experimenting with TikTok four years ago after losing her prior job. Ms. Sexton said she had been posting content on other social media platforms, but only TikTok created a viral trajectory for her baking. Today, she has more than 2 million followers on the app, where she has also shared more intimate details about her life, such as losing her mother to brain cancer and subsequently adopting her little sister.

“There has been no evidence whatsoever that my information is in danger or anybody else’s,” said Ms. Sexton, who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “Nobody has provided that – not the government, not anybody else. And to base this purchase, this tug of war that changes my life off of a hypothetical is so hurtful to me personally, because my government at that point is not protecting me.”

The creators are asking the court to issue a declaration saying the law is unconstitutional and an order that would prevent Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.